Cooked Mini Carrot

Let me tell you about the mini carrot, my friend, and why it behaves so differently once it's cooked.

Pick up a raw one and it snaps. Cook it, and that snap is gone — press it with a fork and it simply yields, soft all the way through, no fight left in it. Smell changes too: raw carrot smells sharp and green, cooked carrot smells sweeter, rounder, like something settled down. Per 100 grams of the raw carrot, before cooking, you get 35 kcal, 8.22 g of carbs, 0.76 g of protein and 0.18 g of fat — light, clean food.

Choose mini carrots by their look: smooth skin, bright color, no cracks, no soft spots. Smell them too — fresh ones smell earthy and faintly sweet, never sour.

Now, some people say a small carrot is simply a baby carrot, not worth cooking properly. They just toss it in boiling water and forget it. No! A thin carrot is a fast carrot — turn away for a minute and it slips from tender to mush before you know it. Watch it, don't walk away. Pull one out, press it between your fingers, and when it gives just right, that's your moment — not the clock on the wall.